Listening to Aboriginal Voices

Dr Carol Dowling, Researcher

In late 2020 our Director of Research, Dr Carol Dowling interviewed 21 participants in a regional stakeholder initiative to capture authentic Aboriginal feedback on Earbus Foundation programs. Using a yarning methodology developed by Dawn Bessarab and Bridget Ng'andu, Dr Dowling created a safe and open yarning space within which individuals could provide honest and authentic commentary on Earbus programs and people.

Now this important piece of work is being presented at the biennial OMOZ conference being hosted online from Perth in October. The in-person OMOZ was postponed from its original 2020 date due to Covid considerations.

The data gathered by Dr Dowling has been informative and illuminating, providing valuable insights into how the Earbus service links into community and Elders and how users of the Earbus service differentiate it from other service providers. It confirms our strong belief that Aboriginal people are highly astute consumers of health services and that levels of engagement are important measures of community support.